[unreadable] Stroger Hospital of Cook County (JSH) in Chicago Illinois is the major tertiary care site for the County of Cook Bureau of Health Services (CCBHS). The majority of cancer cases are from minority-underserved populations, and are predominantly African-American (AA), Department of Surgery, JSH plans to develop, strengthen & improve coordinated cancer care & clinical research, through the growth & expansion of the Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program (MBCCOP). Dr. Howard Zaren will continue as Principal Investigator (P.I.). The MBCCOP effort will expand the operational base & core infrastructure to support increased numbers of NCI-approved studies; develop relationships with Cancer Research Bases to facilitate broad & improved participation in treatment and cancer prevention & control studies for the 5 major cancer sites seen at JSH (breast, lung, colorectal, head & neck, & prostate); increase support for oncologists & other cancer related health care providers; encourage multidisciplinary cancer care and integrated research (clinical, basic science & epidemiological); facilitate transfer of state-of-the-art quality oncology care & new technology to minority-underserved patients in their own communities; focus on prevention & control as methods for reducing cancer incidence, morbidity & mortality, with special emphasis on primary care physician involvement and education; extend and promote research involvement and opportunities with emphasis on the particular needs of the community served, promoting outreach and education; monitor and evaluate outcomes to ascertain program effectiveness, potential causes of outcome disparity and determine new areas of investigation and growth & development. [unreadable] [unreadable]